The offer from Esteghlal for Hossein Hosseini was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Malavan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Padideh is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Ashkan Taremi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
16 goals and a season average of 7.25. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Hajsafi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Padideh had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Navbahor, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Mehdi Hajsafi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Esteghlal Ahvaz; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saman Yazdani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Padideh, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Persepolis for Ashkan Taremi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Padideh had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match2 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Padideh. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Gholizadeh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Padideh will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padideh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match19 Dec 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Padideh. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Gholizadeh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Saeid Dejagah. 2‑0 against Naft Tehran, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Kaveh Pouraliganji on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Padideh man
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Saeid Dejagah takes the afternoon — 8.88
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saeid Dejagah provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alireza Ghoddos and Padideh agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Hajsafi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A 3‑2 win over Sepahan, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Ashkan Taremi takes the afternoon — 8.86
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ashkan Taremi provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mehdi Hajsafi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Ashkan Taremi takes the afternoon — 8.88
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ashkan Taremi provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Padideh are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Position 2, 33 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Saman Yazdani falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mehdi Hajsafi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ashkan Taremi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Kaveh Pouraliganji could afford to be generous.
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Romario Matova
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Padideh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mehdi Hajsafi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mehdi Gholizadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Padideh told Karim Vafaei something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padideh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alireza Ghoddos signs something — a contract at Padideh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
3‑0, and Ashkan Taremi took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Padideh tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A brace, and Ashkan Taremi takes the afternoon — 9.03
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ashkan Taremi provided it, and the 9.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
With 5 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
A brace, and Ciro Peretti takes the afternoon — 8.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ciro Peretti provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Romario Matova has just signed for Padideh, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mehdi Hajsafi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Iliya Imani was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Ciro Peretti has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Padideh told Iliya Imani something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Ashkan Taremi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Gostaresh Foulad tried to reorganise, Padideh did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Marked 8.41. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Padideh.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Mehdi Hajsafi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Kator Akile falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Siah Jamegan made Padideh work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Gholizadeh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Mehdi Hajsafi has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Kaveh Pouraliganji could afford to be generous.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Mehdi Hajsafi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saman Yazdani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ashkan Azmoun has his answer from Padideh; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Persepolis? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
5 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Mehdi Hajsafi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Kaveh Pouraliganji on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Hossein Hosseini may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Masoud Pouraliganji trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
1 for Mehdi Hajsafi, marked 7.93, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kaveh Pouraliganji after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Padideh until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al Ain is saying, and nobody at Padideh is enjoying the guessing.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Padideh will try again when the window opens; Sepahan may not be selling by then.
Padideh offered $97.0K; Tractor said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Abolfazl Mohammadi was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $780.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Gholizadeh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padideh can pretend not to have heard.
Ashkan Taremi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kaveh Pouraliganji after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Hossein Hosseini scored, was marked 7.91, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $111.2K — a club that wants Amir Savaed enough to be asked twice.
Ashkan Taremi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Padideh offered $140.0K; Esteghlal said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $122.4K — a club that wants Houman Elyasi enough to be asked twice.
$120.0K on the table at Zob Ahan. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Malavan this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Padideh offered $170.0K; Foolad said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tractor have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $5.0M — a club that wants Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh enough to be asked twice.
Ahmad Torabi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The offer went to Foolad this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The name of Mohammad Jahanbakhsh has come up in conversations Padideh were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Padideh
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mehdi Gholizadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Morteza Khodadad has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ali Vafaei has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hossein Ebrahimi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Karim Karimi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.